How to Build a Multi-Step AI Research Agent in Zapier

Chain a search action, an AI summarize step, and a delivery step into a simple agent that briefs you on any new topic.

11 minAdvanced

Visit Zapier

A true autonomous agent is overkill for most needs. A reliable alternative is a chained Zap that fetches information, reasons over it with an AI step, and delivers a result, which behaves like a focused research assistant. This guide builds one that turns a topic into a short briefing.

What you need

A Zapier account with multi-step Zaps
A trigger to start it (a form, a Slack command, or a schedule)
A search or fetch source (RSS, a news app, or Webhooks GET)
An AI option and a destination like email or Slack

Step 1: Trigger with the topic

Start with a trigger that carries the subject to research. A simple Zapier form or a Slack slash command works well. The submitted text becomes the topic field the rest of the Zap uses.

Step 2: Gather source material

Add a fetch step that pulls recent material on the topic. You might use an RSS feed filtered by keyword, a news search app, or a Webhooks GET to a search API. The goal is to collect a few snippets the AI can reason over rather than hallucinate from.

Zap structure

1. Trigger Form: topic submitted

2. Action Search: fetch 5 recent articles

3. Formatter Join titles + snippets into one block

4. AI step Summarize into a briefing

5. Action Email the briefing to me

A linear chain that behaves like a research agent.

Step 3: Combine results for the AI

Search steps often return a list of items. Use a Formatter Text step (or line-item handling) to join the titles and snippets into a single block of text. The AI step needs one consolidated input, not separate items.

Step 4: Prompt for a grounded briefing

Map the combined text into the AI prompt and instruct the model to use only that material. Asking it to cite which snippet each point came from keeps it honest and easy to verify.

Briefing prompt

You are a research assistant. Using ONLY the sources
below, write a briefing on "{{topic}}":

- 3 to 5 key takeaways as bullets
- One line on what is still unclear
- Do not use outside knowledge

Sources:
{{combined search results}}

Why chain instead of a full agent

A fixed chain is predictable, debuggable, and cheap. You can see exactly what each step received in Zap History. Reach for an autonomous agent only when the task genuinely needs to choose its own steps.

Step 5: Deliver and schedule

Add an email or Slack action to send the briefing. To make it proactive, swap the trigger for Schedule by Zapier so it researches a standing topic every morning and delivers a fresh briefing before you start work.

Example: You submit the topic AI regulation, the Zap pulls five recent articles, joins them, and emails you a five-bullet briefing with a note on what is still uncertain, all within a minute.